Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Society Religion & Philosophy
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Daily Times [13th August] has a story stating that the veil as worn by most muslim women today is not required by Islam. I have limited religious knowledge so I am confused. Surely, so many of the Muslim women wearing the hijab must have some justification for it? Can anyone pls help me out.
*

By Khalid Hasan*

WASHINGTON: A leading Arab Islamic scholar has said that neither the Qur’an nor the authentic Sunnah demand that women wear the hijab or cover their hair.

“There is no specific verse that obliges women to wear headscarves, but you find verses setting the broad lines for public modesty or decency,” according to Gamal El-Banna, brother of Hasan El-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Writing in the magazine Egypt Today, El-Banna lays to rest the controversy over the increasing use of hijab by explaining that there is no Quranic authority or injunction for donning the hijab. He writes, “The Qur’an states: ‘And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent and to draw their veils over the bosoms (24:31).’ If the Qur’an wanted to oblige women to cover their hair, it would have stated it very clearly. Why would the Qur’an resort to expressions that have a variety of interpretations? The fact is that the Qur’an can be understood directly without resorting to interpretation if it couldn’t, we would have clergy to lead us.”

In his book al-Hijab, El-Banna declares that the veil is not an Islamic tradition, but a pre-Islamic one. He bases this view on the research he has completed on the Arab world prior to the advent of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). In those days, he says, Arab women covered their heads and left the upper parts of their chest uncovered. He concludes that the Quranic verse commands women to cover their chests, not their heads.

According to El-Banna, the Prophet (PBUH) improved the status of women as much as he could given his cultural milieu. He also opened the door for further aspects of emancipation. However, the Arab society was reluctant to tolerate this new reality, so many of them started to make up ahadith that would maintain the status quo. Similarly, El-Banna says, there is no religious foundation that prevents women running for any elected office, including the presidency.

El-Banna dismisses accusations that he is calling on the faithful to abandon the Sunnah, but insists that the orally transmitted traditions of the Prophet (PBUH) are less binding on Muslims than the Qur’an itself. “We cannot deny the Sunnah, even though it has been proven that most of the sayings attributed to the Prophet (PBUH) have been made up, were narrated in other people’s words or were transmitted inaccurately. This does not mean that there are no true sayings that set many Islamic fundamental principles; what it does mean is that it’s high time to study the Sunnah in a different way,” El-Banna says.

PS: I am new here. I tried searching for it but found nothing. So if it’s been discussed before, pls point me to it.

Thanx.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Here's an editorial by Daily Times:

EDITORIAL: Mullahs cannot win battle of veil for women
Of all people, Gamal al Banna, a brother of the founder of Egypt’s Ikhwan al Muslimun, Hasan al Banna, has declared that “neither the Quran nor the authentic Sunnah demands that women wear the hijab or cover their hair”. This is going to disturb the hornets’ nest of Islamic ‘scholars’ of all stripes, who will now start condemning him for suggesting a relatively permissive order for Muslim women.** Al Banna twists the knife a bit more, saying that “the veil is not an Islamic tradition, but a pre-Islamic one, when Arab women covered their heads and left the upper parts of their chest uncovered”. He thinks the relevant Quranic verse commands women to cover their chests, not necessarily their heads.**

The Arab world has gone where the Saudi conservatives wanted it to go. Nasserism was followed by veiled girl students at Al Azhar demanding the imposition of Shariah, and soon there were youths belonging to Gamaa Islamiyya willing to thrash women who refused to veil themselves in public. When the Arabs came to Afghanistan in 1996 to fight for the Taliban, the call for “true Islam” was already a slogan that was heard loud and clear in Pakistan. Ironically, “true Islam” usually applies to women and had begun spreading with General Zia’s Hudood Ordinance, ordaining that women anchors and announcers on PTV cover their heads. But the ulema on the right of Zia wanted more. In fact they wanted nothing short of a “shuttlecock”, a brutally punitive covering that renders women half blind.

Pakistan was reluctant to take the veil because of the embarrassing fact that Fatima Jinnah and Begum Liaquat Ali Khan were national icons without the veil, but the order of the Taliban affected many parts of the country nonetheless. After a few incidents on The Mall in Lahore, religious seminarians found that it was no use threatening Pakistani women to take the veil if the government was not willing and the Constitution allowed a woman to become head of government and state. But the environment was scary enough to force Benazir Bhutto to start fingering beads in public and Hasina Wajid of Bangladesh to wear a pious head-band. The Taliban whipped unveiled women in Kabul, but could not do so in Mazar-e-Sharif. When foreign-inspired Islamists began beating up unveiled women in the Ferghana Valley in Central Asia, no one really took them seriously.

The truth is that the veil has become involved in a discussion of culture, and Islam allows all kinds of regional and local cultures to flourish under Shariah. **While all clerics agree on the covering of the “zeenat” of women, they can’t agree on the precise nature of the veil. **Yet, as culture retreats in the face of extremist thinking, there are unhealthy signs of repression in societies heretofore known as liberal. Eastward of India, Islam was always seen as having a soft tolerant face given to it by early Muslim missionaries who grasped the importance of local cultures in people’s lives. Neither Bangladesh nor Indonesia could have dreamed 20 years ago that there would be violence against unveiled women. Funnily, today the Pattani Muslims of southern Thailand — “revived” after their leader paid a visit to Saudi Arabia — proudly display prescriptive photos of a complete head-to-foot covering for women in a climate that is sure to suffocate them to death.

Bangladesh has been bedevilled by jihadi militias in the north and south of the country acting as social police in the areas they control. The cleric, who has empowered himself at the cost of the government that feels less and less able to enforce a moderate Constitution, has been dealing out harsh punishments to women in the countryside, among people who had never known strict Islam. Bengali Muslim women complain that Bangladesh is falling under the interpretation by Maulana Maududi of a Quranic edict of the strict veil that was actually meant only for the wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and that too in a specific case. And although the spiritual leader of Sudan, Hasan al Turabi, has muddied the waters for the hardline clerics by saying that women are not required to cover their heads and faces, many Muslims in Sudan and Somalia still continue to circumcise their daughters!

To impose the veil, a country needs theocratic rule, but theocracy doesn’t tend to last, as happened in Afghanistan. In Iran, where it survives, an imposed veil awaits the day of release. In Turkey, which punishes women who take the veil, at least one Islamic party went around illegally punishing unveiled women in cities where it had won the local elections. But today the Islamic party in government wants to join Europe where France disallows the veil as part of its cultural policy. If Turkey joins the EU, the Shariah will go, together with the veil and an interfering army!

By choosing the veil as a battlefront, the clergy has made a fatal mistake in the Islamic world. This is a battle it can never win because no one agrees on the nature of the veil prescribed by Islam. *

I have hilighted some points raised here which could be made topic of discussion. :)

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

What backs the claim that he's a leading scholar?

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

The reason teenagers begin Masturbation is for women being naked and thus it is hard to stop this habit. If no Hijab, then women can wear the same requirements than men? Men and women are different. I hope this has changed and women are wearing Hijab from centuries. I disagree with that statement without apologizing.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Surprise Surprise it comes from a western media outlet. Incorrect in some of its statements as well.

ice-cream
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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

The answer to the question is very simple - Muslim women observe HIJAB (covering the head and the body) because Allah has told them to do so.

**033.059
*YUSUFALI: O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. *

*PICKTHAL: O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful. *

*SHAKIR: O Prophet! say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments; this will be more proper, that they may be known, and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. *

First is the Word of Allaah, now let us understand what does hijab mean *** "The word "hijab" comes from the Arabic word "hajaba" meaning to hide from view or conceal". ***

The question now is what is the extent of the covering? The Qur'an says:

**"Say to the believing man that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that will make for greater purity for them; and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; and that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands..." (Qur'an Nur 24:30-31)
**These verses from the Qur'an contain two main injunctions:
1) A woman should not show her beauty or adornments except what appears by uncontrolled factors such as the wind blowing her clothes, and
2) the head covers should be drawn so as to cover the hair, the neck and the bosom.

**

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Islam has no fixed standard as to the style of dress or type of clothing that Muslims must wear. However, some requirements must be met.
1) The first of these requirements is the parts of the body which must be covered. *The following is a Tradition of the Prophet:
*"Ayesha (R) reported that Asmaa the daughter of Abu Bakr (R) came to the Messenger of Allah (S) while wearing thin clothing. He approached her and said: 'O Asmaa! When a girl reaches the menstrual age, it is not proper that anything should remain exposed except this and this. He pointed to the face and hands." (Abu Dawood)

2) The second requirement is looseness. The clothing must be loose enough so as not to describe the shape of the woman's body. One desirable way to hide the shape of the body is to wear a cloak over other clothes. However, if the clothing is loose enough, an outer garment is not necessary.

3)** Thickness is the third requirement.** The clothing must be thick enough so as not to show the color of the skin it covers or the shape of the body.
The Prophet Muhammad (S) stated that in later generations of his ummah there would be "women who would be dressed but naked and on top of their heads (what looks like) camel humps. Curse them for they are truly cursed." (Muslim)

4)** Another requirement is an over-all dignified appearance.** The clothing should not attract men's attention to the woman. It should not be shiny and flashy so that everyone notices the dress and the woman. In addition there are other requirements:
*5) Women must not dress so as to appear as men.
*"Ibn Abbas narrated: 'The Prophet (S) cursed the men who appear like women and the women who appear like men.'" (Bukhari)
*6) Women should not dress in a way similar to the unbelievers.
*
**The clothing should be modest, not excessively fancy and also not excessively ragged to gain others admiration or sympathy.
**

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Are you speaking from personal experience?

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

all i have to say is dont believe everything you read or hear even if it's by a "self-proclaimed scholar" especially if they lack credibility.

What MEN want...
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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

lol, how come the scholars of Isnad speak otherwise? Surely they know better.

And its common sense. If islam talks of modesty, what other way can you be modest and safe from evil eyes ? hijaab is the only way...

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Roadrunner, what are you attempting to accomplish here? I came from various Islamic forums and some members came up with the Masturbation topic and it was much long. In conclusion, Masturbation is Haraam.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

The word "cover their heads" is not in there, so your daleel didn't fly.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

as far as I know Hijab is required for women. The veil is not, and it was a custom adopted from the jewish tribes in the area. Perhaps there is an error in translation in the above report.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

I am sure you can point us towards some study where your claim towards masterbation can be verified. BTW using your formula KSA, Iran and Afghanistan should be least masterbatable areas. What a laugh.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

if u understand the arabic language (the linguistics and all) and its meaning .....then it is. :)

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Really? Where in the quran does it say to cover your head, the verses mentioned don’t have the word hair (Shahr in arabic) or head (ra’as in arabic), yes I speak arabic fluently, there is NOTHING in the quran about covering your head or hair.

And what and what?

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

May Allah curse this Munafiq scholar who is a dog whom Kafir Christians are using to mock at the deen of Allah.

Such slaves of Kuffar have only one cure, a painful death in this world.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

Masturbation is Haraam, period! It keeps people away from their good deeds and unpure and I do not want to discuss it anymore.

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

What is meant by the red-squared text?

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Re: Wearing Of Hijab Not Required By Quran: Egyptian Scholar

lol speaking arabic and understanding quranic arabic are 2 different things. surely you are no scholar (as most credible scholars will tell u headcovering IS mentioned in Quran) so plz dont start giving me your interpretation of what the quran is saying or not saying.

and what and what?